


Endless Erosion

by FraudAndShade



Category: God Eater (Video Games), RWBY
Genre: Gen, Graphic Description, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Talking Animals, really minor though, well not really animal but still count
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26396761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FraudAndShade/pseuds/FraudAndShade
Summary: A simple mission goes terribly wrong due to faulty intel and costs a Huntress her whole team. When a giant Grimm finally catches up to her and death seems inevitable, she is saved by the last thing she expected to see or hear talk.Major God Eater spoilers.
Kudos: 5





	Endless Erosion

**Author's Note:**

> Trained men and women wielding large melee weapons that turn into guns fighting bloodthirsty monsters named after and based on mythological beast that hold most of the world in fear. Am I talking about RWBY or God Eater? Well, it fits the latter more because not all RWBY weapons transform and not all of them are oversized, but the similarities are there and so this was born.
> 
> Normally, in crossovers between the two series, people go with God Eaters and technically, so did I, but I went for something a little different. I hope I got him right. I also decided against using the main cast for RWBY so that I would have an easier time setting everything up.
> 
> Note that there are some graphic...descriptions of violence, but they are limited to thoughts and don't actually go beyond that. The character just has that kind of imagination.
> 
> Like my other work, this is another one shot that I would develop further if I could, but I wouldn't use any of this there. This was written as a one shot and not something to be continued.

It will be easy, they said.

It's just a pack of Beowolves, they said.

It's barely pest control, they said.

In the middle of the night, a girl of diminutive height and light build was running for her life. She had fair skin, red eyes, long white hair with short sidelocks and blunt bangs. Her outfit - consisting of a black gothic dress with sleeves, skirt and collar resembling layered white butterfly wings along with a black pantyhose - was stained with blood and displayed numerous cuts and holes that revealed severe injuries underneath.

Few things were worse than faulty intel. What good is there in hiring skilled Huntsmen if you feed them false information? And Claire's team couldn't even be called that. They were still green and ill prepared for a giant Death Stalker and far more lesser Grimm than the reports mentioned. Whether they genuinely didn't know about them or those guys intentionally sent them to their doom, it really didn't matter. She really couldn't think highly of them when all of her teammates were dead and she would soon follow them into the afterlife.

With her aura down, her halberd broken and her legs about to give out, she was unlikely to survive. While they did manage to kill almost all of their enemies before dying, the one that really mattered was still alive and hot on her trail. If it weren't for the dense forest, Claire would have been caught long ago. Even if that damn beast could bulldoze through trees, it did slow it down just enough. to eventually create enough of a distance between the two for the Huntress to try hiding.

Breathing heavily, she did her best to curl up behind a rock. That was the moment when Claire wished she could turn invisible or just teleport away, but her Semblance was useful only in combat and she wouldn't be able to use it in time anyway. All she could really do is pray.

Death Stalker took its sweet time looking for its victim. Simply hearing it scuttling around on it numerous legs was nerve-racking and by all accounts, her rapidly beating heart should have given away her hiding spot if it didn't burst out of her chest first, but it kept carefully searching through every nook and cranny. At that point, she felt like it was actively playing with her and drawing out her death.

After what felt like weeks, she finally heard it moving closer towards her. She couldn't run anymore and she certainly was in no condition to fight. Even if she did try to make a run for it, its stinger would easily punch a hole through her or its pincers would squeeze innards out of her and snap her body in half before she could even move six feet away from the rock.

Claire regretted accepting this mission. They were just trying to help people for what was barely worth the effort to wipe out a Beowolf pack and now they were all dead. She was about to curse out everyone responsible for this mess, but...her teammates wouldn't approve of that. Blanche certainly wouldn't. That idiot had a heart far too big for her own good.

Then, just as she saw Death Stalker's giant glowing stinger hang right in front of her face, she heard it. Something else was moving in their direction and whatever it was, it was big and certainly strong to break through dense foliage. Was one big Grimm not enough? Was it another Death Stalker? Perhaps the other one's brother or sister, if they had those? It did retract its stinger as if it was waiting for something.

Thoughts of being twisted and pulled apart by a happy pair of giant murder scorpions came to her mind. Maybe she really should have just ignored Blanche's order and given up earlier.

But then she heard a mighty roar followed by more stomping that clearly didn't belong to a Death Stalker. Her assailant didn't seem to respond kindly to the source of those sounds, snapping its pincers and moving towards it. Once it was far enough from her hiding spot, Claire decided to satiate her curiosity and see what was going on. She was going to die either way, so, it really wouldn't hurt to take a peek.

What she saw surprised her. It was big as she thought, but it wasn't a Grimm and yet it wasn't anything she had ever seen. It resembled a giant lizard or rather a wingless dragon, mostly black and gold in color with red tips of horns, shoulders and tail, red fur lining its neck and red eyes along with some silver armor on its back and an odd silver vambrace on its right arm that also had some red fur growing along its edges. Purple smoke was coming out of its mouth as it stood up on its hind legs. Even though it was still smaller than the Death Stalker, it seemed to have enough confidence to taunt it, beckoning the giant Grimm.

The Death Stalker immediately charged at it, trying to grab it with its pincers, but the dragon easily caught both limbs and held its advancing opponent back. When the scorpion tried to make use of this position by utilizing its unoccupied stinger, the dragon caught it in its mouth and even though it failed to tear it off, the part it bit was visibly damaged. As expected of a being that looked like this, the reptilian beast proceeded to breathe fire right in that bastard's ugly mug before it finally managed to break away and back off.

A tiny part of Claire felt excitement at this sight and she found herself nervously scrunching up her bloodstained sleeves, partially because she really wanted to see that thing roll over and die, but also because two giant monsters fighting was awesome in its own right and it wasn't exactly a common sight to begin with. Still, she was sure that they were merely fighting over their prey and once that bug kicks the bucket, she'll get roasted and gobbled up...assuming that thing does eat people. It certainly looked like it did, but so did the Grimm.

The Grimm resumed its attack, now using its pincers individually to either snap a limb off or decapitate the dragon along with trying to stab it with it stinger, albeit much less often. Glancing blows is all it accomplished while the other monster landed a few punches, cracking bony armor with each hit. Hearing that felt extremely satisfying to her and when another stinger attack ended with a half of its tail cut off by sharp claws, she felt even better.

The next thing Death Stalker tried was pouncing on the dragon to simply crush it with its weight and for something that big, it really had no right to jump that high or that far. Then it turned out that it wasn't the only one whose size belied their agility when the dragon backflipped out of the way and shot a large purple fireball in retaliation, shattering bony armor on the Grimm's front half. When it recovered from that attack and turned around to retreat, its enemy conjured what looked like a giant flaming spike in one of its hands and jumped at the retreating enemy, driving that thing through its head. As a cherry on the top, the spike exploded, killing the giant scorpion.

But now that the Death Stalker was dissolving into nothing, Claire was left at the dragon's mercy. She could only hope that it didn't notice her or wasn't interested in her if it did, but it was too much to ask for at this point. Of course, that didn't mean she would just walk up to it and jump into its mouth for that sweet release of death. She simply wouldn't bother running away or fighting back.

"You can come out now. It's gone."

For a moment, the Huntress was confused. Was there someone else there? But she couldn't find anyone. It came from somewhere where the dragon was, but it didn't react to it even though the voice was pretty loud. Then it made a noise that almost sounded like a sigh and started slowly walking up to her hiding spot.

"C'mon, I know you're behind that rock. Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Now the voice seemed louder as if whoever was talking was closer to her, but she still couldn't find its source. Was she simply hearing things? She lost enough blood to start hallucinating. Hell, maybe the whole thing was just a hallucination and she was actually just lying on the ground in bloody pieces that could just barely be identified as human remains. That would explain the twenty feet tall dragon coming out of nowhere. Either that or that monster was capable of speech and was using it to lure her out. That was kinda pointless when it could certainly smash that rock apart and swallow her whole faster than she could even think about pleading it not to eat her.

"Look, I'm gonna walk behind that rock in a moment, so, don't panic, okay?"

And she did exactly that. Even if she accepted her death as being inevitable, she still freaked out at the sight of that beast moving slowly behind the rock. Now she considered and tried running, but tripped and was left practically crawling away from it.

"Whoah, easy there, kid! Man, that stench of blood was pretty bad, but it's worse than I thought..."

Attempts to move any further were halted when its fingers wrapped around her. She expected to be puking out her heart and a bunch of other organs or to be shoved into its toothy maw and crushed to paste, but all it did was prevent her from moving any further and for something that big, it was surprisingly gentle about it. Still, she didn't stop squirming for a while, stopping only when she was too tired to go on.

"You done yet?"

Now she could confirm that it was the monster. Its - or rather his, judging by the voice - jaws moved in sync with it and it clearly came from him. Claire just didn't know what to think at this point.

"Wha...Who...are you?" - she finally asked.

"Lindow. Lindow Amamiya. Pleased to meetcha, but I wish we met under different circumstances. Y'know, less blood, more beer and a roof above our heads. With wounds like these, it's a miracle you're still alive."

Now that she was no longer in apparent danger, severity of her wounds started catching up to her. Her legs mostly had cuts and a few holes, thus letting her run, but there were still many of them and it just got worse starting with her waist, with one of her arms being rendered useless by all the damage received. It didn't help that it was very cold. Not cold enough for water to freeze, but the state of her attire left her half-naked and more susceptible to cold as a result.

When Claire saw Lindow preparing to breathe fire, she expected to be engulfed by the flame, but he didn't aim at her. He merely set some logs on fire, which weren't there before. Perhaps blood loss was getting to her and she simply didn't notice him walking away to get them. That fire remained purple, but it warmed her up all the same.

"I'd get you all patched up, but I don't trust these big hands of mine and, well, I have nothing to work with. I'll just leave that to someone else. Where's the closest human settlement?"

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell him that. He was friendly enough at that moment, but at the same time, he could be looking for more food. The Huntress was just one little girl and would barely count as a snack. But a village? An all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, she was desperate.

"It's...It's to the north, about five miles away..."

"Five miles? Should be fine...but first, let's get you warmed up. You've been shivering like crazy. Don't want you turning into a popsicle before we even get there, right? What were you doing out here anyway?"

Hesitating at first, Claire told him everything that lead up to this tragedy. The beginning of the tale wasn't too bad, but by the time she began retelling their fight, she couldn't keep her composure anymore. She was, by far, the youngest and weakest member of her team. Even though she could hit harder than them, she was severely lacking in skill and thus, she was nigh useless. They spent half the fight simply making sure she didn't get killed. Maybe they would have been alive if they simply ignored her and focused on their enemies. She didn't keep those thoughts a secret from her inhuman listener.

"You're wrong."

She almost felt offended by that interruption and what he said, but before she could say anything in response, he placed his relatively giant hand on her shoulder.

"They bought you time and told you to run, didn't they? They wanted you to live and you must do exactly that. Live. Let your wounds heal, look back on your mistakes, do your best to improve and try again, but above all else, stay alive. You won't protect anyone if you're dead and their sacrifice will be wasted. You follow me?"

Of course, she didn't accept his words right off the bat, but the more she thought about it, the more she found herself agreeing with him. Whatever they may have thought of her combat prowess, her teammates were quite fond of her. She disliked the way they treated her like a child, but she still appreciated their company. Tarnishing their wishes like this...didn't sit well with her.

But there was one question she had.

"For a giant monster, you seem to know much...How?"

"Ah, well, you could say I had some first-hand experience with it, but the last time, I was the one doing the sacrificing and not really surviving. My subordinates...Those guys were a stubborn bunch. Really didn't want to leave my sorry ass behind when I told them to. I wonder how they're doing now...Do you really wanna hear an old man ramble on and on about his past when your future is in danger?"

That brought more questions than it answered, but she didn't really need to know anything more. This guy saved her and that was far more important.

"...I've gotta ask: what the hell happened to the moon here? I remember thinking it was gonna fall and smash everything to pieces when I was young, but seeing a good chunk of it broken off like this..."

Now that was even more surprising than having a meaningful conversation with a giant talking dragon thing. It's been like this for as long as she could remember and her parents didn't remember it being any other way. Either this thing was simply that ancient and woke up today or there was something weirder going on. But at that point, she was too tired to think more about it or remain conscious for long. Lindow noticed that too and didn't wait for an answer.

* * *

The next thing Claire knew, she was in a hospital, already in a better state than the last time she was awake. As much as aura helped with recovery, she still had a long road ahead of her. She almost dismissed memories of that night as hallucinations, but not only were they too vivid, she later found out how exactly she was found. A man was heard shouting somewhere outside of the village's borders, asking for help, but she was found alone. The girl was sure it was him.

Still, she didn't tell anyone about him. Not only were they unlikely to believe her, it could just as easily put him in danger. She could only hope they would meet again to thank him for saving her, preferably once she was sure she could tell him how much she improved.


End file.
